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Bravestation’s back! After stowing away for half a year, the Toronto band who I feel like describing today as mystical wave rock have put forth their first new offering, “Signs of the Civilized,” from their upcoming album.

“Signs of the Civilized” is airy and promising. It flutters and flaps its wings like a baby bird getting ready for its first take-off while under the tree it sits in, there are fish in a stream swimming down their yearly route as the ground seems to thaw. Bravestation’s rejuvenated, bringing the spring closer to us than global warming already has (and for that I’m thankful, to be honest).

Take a listen to the calm confidence. You can download the track in exchange for your email address.

Dog Day is back. Halifax howlers Seth Smith and Nancy Urich have finally released their anticipated album that first fully sees them as a duo after last year’s split from Chrystal Thili and Robbie Sheddon. Deformer is that look we’ve all been waiting for closer into the duo’s dynamic. It’s refined but messy, sour but oh so sweet and droney but full of melody.

Dog Day’s sound hasn’t changed much, it’s just become a bit simpler, what with only four hands. You can barely tell though, as this married couple makes a lot of noise and sometimes adds some effects.

They both still have their trademark singing drones, which is interesting for the fact of how well they pull it off. I’m willing to bet if I heard many other acts sing like this, I wouldn’t be so pleased to the ears. But I can’t get enough of their vocals that flow so well together as Seth goes low and Nancy gets high, like in the point-blank “Nothing to Do.” (But when Seth works the notes up high on a ladder, it’s one of the finest points, like in the stellar ‘Part Girl” and “Scratches.”) Seth still rips at his noisy guitar, but now Nancy’s plodding away on the drums and even singing more lead parts (“Blueish Grey” is like that summer thunderstorm you’ve been waiting out). They’re shoegaze but starting to let more obvious fun slip into the cracks, whether it’s recording their dog Woofy while he yips during dreams or through the lyrics that are smart, tender, happy, honest, conscious of anything and everything.

When you showed up on the scene, I fell into a daydream. You’re not so bad

Deformer is a really enjoyable listen for multiple moods and headspaces. Seth and Nancy live in a forest, raise chickens and are actually two of the sweetest rockers you’ll meet. They’ve created something that both encapsulates their environment but is also accessible to those not living in the bubble.

I’ve been waiting for this album since 2009’s Concentration kicked things up a notch, but especially since I saw the duo play at Sneaky’s last summer, when it was clear they were pleased as their plump chickens to be in a space they wanted. Deformer is the confidence to their former shakiness, and Dog Day are all the better for it.

Someone took the life out of my heart, I won’t let it put me down, I used to have a negative approach, I’m turning it upside down, think positive, positive, positive, yeah yeah yeah

Things around these parts have been a bit mum from me lately. I’ve been incredibly busy putting together the first issue of Static Zine – a fun new Toronto arts and life zine. Yes that’s right, a zine. Every time I go somewhere to drop them off now and say that word, I get some pretty funny looks. But this has worked out really well so far with an amazing team of contributors, already running out at numerous locations after a few hours and we’ve already been interviewed!

We’re throwing a launch party on the last day of NXNE. Here’s the Facebook event, and you can see the show poster above. We’ll have performances by Jeans Boots, Kat Burns of Forest City Lovers, Lowell Sostomi of Great Bloomers, The Ruby Spirit, Bravestation and Sister. I am beyond excited!

The lads of Nightbox premiered their official music video for “Pyramid” via this week’s episode of The Wedge on Much Music. Now we have it via YouTube. Just in time for the weekend, as this is that cute dancey party track you’ve been waiting for. Watch the five-piece revel in colour and imagination at an old, abandoned house and in a field (it looks cooler than how I’ve described, honestly).

Pack your week with some gritty guitars and satisfied gloomy skies with songs from Rain Over St. Ambrose, Reversing Falls and Sports. Then tell me that you feel at least a little more oomph in your steps.

Rain Over St. Ambrose

“DG Gold Paint” is off their debut self-titled April-released EP. Packing crunchy Canadiana into three songs, this Yarmouth five-piece may have risen from the ashes of the unfortunate passing of singer Cory’s father (the band name is a testament to that), but they could work their way into a future with clearer skies. The single utilizes some classic rock patterns with the guitar, keyboard and drums and paired with Cory’s vocals, they remind me of The Hold Steady. Download the EP here.

Here’s an edgy ear worm for you, straight from Montreal. Guitars power through to a trembling tempo and Tyler Crawford’s vocals go back and forth, solidifying the hooks. Part of a teaser EP with the darker song “Doom Beach,” it shows a promising future for the LP that is to come. The EP was produced by Mark Lawson (Arcade Fire, Timber Timbre, The Unicorns). Download the EP and previous material at their BandCamp.

This Toronto band has been working their way up to this full-length release with a much steadier pace as of late. The album, which you can download for free (or name your price), is full of energy, whether it be dark or light. My favourite track as of now is “Light,” which has this great bass hook line and thick, ghostly vocal structures. It’s one of the darker songs, and it feels good. The band will officially release the album on June 7 at the Horseshoe Tavern.

Guys, my brother is in a band. It’s called Lesionread. They put out an album, Push, last month.

Push is a colourful mixture of everything Shawn (my brother) and Jonathan Reed have absorbed musically over the last few years. There’s a little bit of Radiohead/Thom Yorke influence in Shawn’s voice (it can’t be denied, no matter how much nobody wants to admit that sort of thing, but this is knowing how much he listened to them and how he started learning about music, and there’s nothing wrong with that) and then there’s groovy, electronic blending of dotted lines with the occasional riffing guitar or other bombastic instrument. Reed delves into spoken word and soothing soul. Things slow down, get experimental. Auto-tuned for a song, even. And that’s just the first half of the album. There’s acoustic guitar, strings, and more in the second half.

Push is a lot to take in, but it’s interesting to see this exploration of learning and exploration itself. It’s different, it’s hard to categorize, but it’s compelling. And I’m not just saying this because Lesionread is 1/2 Lewis.

It’s a pretty blah week, Canada. I don’t have to reiterate all the reasons though, so instead I’ll just give you three glorious new songs to perk up your spirits.

Off the soon-to-be-released Sam Roberts Band album Collider, here’s “Longitude,” a duet with Land of Talk’s Liz Powell. This is a much better track than the other two I’ve heard off Collider so far, which is both a good and bad sign. Liz’s voice is much lighter than her own work here, and there are nice, dreamy moments when her and Sam’s voices come together. The song also just seems to go back to older Sam Roberts Band sounds rather than whatever they’re trying to do with this new album (and what they did on the previous one). But anyways, what a great mash-up of Canadianness this song is.

Elliott Brood have announced that they will be releasing an album later this year, and I am pretty freaking excited. If it’s anything like this first single “Northern Air,” we’ve got nothing to worry about. It’s been since 2008 that we’ve had something new from these guys, it’s about damn time! “Northern Air” is a beautiful five minutes, lead by Casey Laforet rather than Mark Sasso, who sang on most of Mountain Meadows. Honestly, I like Casey’s voice better, so that might be why I respond to this song more strongly. He’s just got this rolling calmness to him, and paired with the banjo, harmonica and the one-twos of the piano and bass, it’s goodness.

I’ve recently been introduced to Charlottetown band Racoon Bandit (seriously though, why the typo in the name, band?). I’m only a couple listens in to Into the Hills so far, but I really dig it. It’s got a lot of heart, and this is evident through “Silver Bullet,” a song at a run’s pace that might call upon your memory of Arcade Fire or Plants and Animals. “Silver Bullet” just has this escapist passion to it, like it’s trying to get out, they want to get out, you want to get out, anything, and it sweeps you into wherever it’s going.